I ordered the Pro earlier this week so I’m now shopping for a Plasma machine and compressor. I don’t have 2k for a cutter right now and I was looking at the Primeweld CUT60. Today I was shopping on ebay and saw the Argon Plasma brand CUT50. 220 only, comes with no plug so you need to wire it but it’s advertised as CNC compatible and it’s $235 with a 2 year warranty.
Mostly what I’ve seen with cutters in this price range are HF machines or it’s difficult to determine compatibility and specifics. I don’t even know if I would be comfortable going that low end considering what I just spent on the Pro table. Did I miss this machine earlier because I don’t recall seeing one that actually advertises CNC compatibility in this price range. I’m wondering if the manufacturers of these machines are catching on to the market trend of CNC ready machines, because realistically Chinese companies can make them either way with little difference in manufacturing cost.
The current/previous trend has been “I want a plasma cutter” so here’s a cheap Plasma cutter, now it’s CNC, here’s your CNC, cheap. It’s all about volume to them, not price.
It’s a trend I’m very familiar with working as an auto repair tech, the problem is the products life is half or less of US made in most cases and sometimes it’s junk right out of the box. The instances of putting on a part that doesn’t work at all has changed over the years form 1-2% to more like 10%.